4.6 HSE with a 4.0? WTF?
 

So. I have a 1998 4.6 HSE. Or so I thought. It has the HSE wheels, the HSE interior (different seats), BUT ... it has a 4.0. At first I thought - someone changed the engine, no big deal. But I was at a shop today and they ran the VIN. It showed it having a 4.0 from the factory. WTF? Did someone swap the interior, wheels, and badging to try to make a HSE (unlikely-the rover is super clean) ... or ... could you order the HSE with a 4.0? Anyone? What the @#%$?

Relax, a lot of stuff can happen to a rover over 12 years. Yes it is possible that the first owner asked for a 4.0. It is also possible that the vin checking software is wrong...(you would be surprised how often that happens). The interior and exterior could have been easily augmented to be an "HSE" instead of an "SE". Recently I saw an SE with piped leather seats and the proper rims, etc. but there were numerous things that indicated it was an SE. You might want to check to see if yours was a salvaged vehicle. For your sake I hope it wasn't.

Thanks for the info! I don't think it is salvaged - the title is clean (we have a separate title for salvaged vehicles) - and for the previous owners sake it had better be accurate (it's a pretty serious offense to falsify something like that here in Massachusetts). Other than that - what are some identifiers of the SE vs the HSE?

actually up-making cars is actually real business here.
You get Golf 1.3i, styled as R32 for some 1000Eur (+/- price of spare parts making it different sans engine of course :-) )

It has become a fairly common practice to swap a 4.0 in for a 4.6 when the engine goes. How do I know, my 4.6 HSE has a 4.0. There are not as many 4.6 around when you need a replacement for a good deal. In my opinion there is not a huge difference in the power either between the two, I am sure someone will disagree though. It is very possible that the VIN software is incorrect, they also could have had it updated somehow to reflect the new engine.

Either way it wont really matter right now since you already have it. Good luck woth whatever you find out.